186 



RIO PARACTI. 



Santo, except the law of our Catholic church, which exacts of us an 

 annual contribution, which has to be deducted from fifteen dollars a 

 year." 



The Espiritu Santo is joined by a smaller stream, Minas Mayo. The 

 two form the river Paracti, which being the main branch of several 

 tributaries on the opposite side, presents quite a formidable stream of 

 seventy yards wide. Its greenish waters flow more sedately, less rapidly, 

 and through a country with less declination than some others. At the 

 head of Paracti the thermometer stood at 13°^ fahrenheit, and the tem- 

 perature of the river water, 1 0°. The small lakes on the ridge have a 

 temperature of 59°, and as we are now at the base of the ridge, we note 

 the difference, 11° fahrenheit. The waters which flow down the sides 

 of the Andes in the dry seasons are partly from the melted snow, having 

 undergone the process of freezing into glaciers, which melt again, and 

 the waters form small lakes near by. As these lakes fill up, the water 

 overflows either on the one side or the other, sometimes on both ; if the 

 latter, and the lake be upon the highest ridge of the great range of 

 Cordilleras, that which flows over the west side of the lake is a tribu- 

 tary to the Pacific ocean, and that which comes to the eastward goes to 

 the Atlantic. The main branch to the Mamore river does not become 

 navigable for canoes until it turns towards the north, and has come fairly 

 under the rain belt, which pours down heavily to latitude 17° south. 

 The navigation of that stream is marked by this edge of the rainy region 

 so plainly, that the river Piray, which is a tributary of the Mamore and 

 close by it, may be descended in a canoe from Puerto de Jeres, while 

 the main stream throughout its length, south of latitude 1*7°, is passed 

 on bridges or forded. 



On the side of the Paracti the hills are small, and our road during the 

 day's travel is often over flats or slopes, for we are still descending over 

 what may be termed the great breast of the Andes, which swells out 

 magnificently towards the morning sun to the delightful tropical 

 breezes that blow over its productive soil. 



Our train of mules are much harassed climbing over the hills, on the 

 east side, one of them, exhausted, lost his footing and rolled over, bag- 

 gage and all. 



We encamped by the side of the Paracti in the wilderness ; not a 

 house near us. We passed our acquaintances, the Yuracares Indians, 

 on the road. They marched slowly along, with bows and arrows in 

 hand, dressed in their bark shirts, bare-headed and footed ; true wild 

 men of the woods. They had no fish or game. Cornelio said they 

 were treated , so well by us they would not exert themselves to hunt, 



